If you’re still playing through today’s puzzle, start by opening Connections and come back when you’re ready for spoilers. You can play on the New York Times Games site at nytimes.com/games/connections.

NYT Connections answers for October 24, 2025 (#866)

Category Group Words Why they connect
🟨 Yellow Best years HEYDAY, PINNACLE, PRIME, ZENITH Each is a term for a peak period or high point.
🟩 Green Things you can do to text BOLD, HIGHLIGHT, STRIKETHROUGH, UNDERLINE Four common formatting actions applied to text.
🟦 Blue Things known for being colorful KALEIDOSCOPE, PEACOCK, RAINBOW, SUNSET All are strongly associated with vivid colors.
🟪 Purple Ending in accessories BAYWATCH, COOTIE, HERRING, KINGPIN Each ends with the letters of a wearable/accessory: WATCH, TIE, EARRING, PIN.

Official difficulty and in-game hint words

Tester difficulty rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Color Hint word shown in-game
🟨 Yellow PRIME
🟩 Green BOLD
🟦 Blue RAINBOW
🟪 Purple HERRING

Why the purple group works

  • BAYWATCH → ends with “WATCH.”
  • COOTIE → ends with “TIE.”
  • HERRING → ends with “EARRING.”
  • KINGPIN → ends with “PIN.”

These hidden endings are common red herrings in the grid; spotting embedded words at the ends (or starts) of entries often unlocks the toughest set.

All 16 words on today’s board

HEYDAY, PINNACLE, PRIME, ZENITH, BOLD, HIGHLIGHT, STRIKETHROUGH, UNDERLINE, KALEIDOSCOPE, PEACOCK, RAINBOW, SUNSET, BAYWATCH, COOTIE, HERRING, KINGPIN.

Quick solve path (one of many)

  • Start with formatting actions: BOLD, HIGHLIGHT, STRIKETHROUGH, UNDERLINE.
  • Group the peak-period synonyms: HEYDAY, PINNACLE, PRIME, ZENITH.
  • Pull the clearly colorful set: KALEIDOSCOPE, PEACOCK, RAINBOW, SUNSET.
  • Finish with the hidden accessories endings: BAYWATCH, COOTIE, HERRING, KINGPIN.

If today’s themes clicked, keep an eye out for similar patterns: synonyms clusters, functional sets (like UI actions), and entries hiding words at their edges. Those three moves cover a lot of Connections’ trickery.